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Editorial

Disclosure boosts safety

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Saturday October 5, 2013 5:04 AM

The state of Ohio is telling shale drillers for the first time that they must report to county
officials and local fire departments the chemicals they use in the fracking process. The change
came about after it was decided that a federal right-to-know law overrides a 2001 state law, which
required drillers to report the information only to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

This is a reasonable measure that protects Ohioans without harming a valuable industry that
already is benefiting Ohio workers and consumers.

Fracking, a horizontal-drilling process in which shale formations are “fractured” to release oil
and gas deposits, already has helped to reduce natural-gas prices to the lowest levels in
years.

It also has been a boon to landowners, mostly in eastern Ohio, who have been paid generous fees
for drilling rights, and to businesses that have sprung up to serve drilling operations in
sparsely-populated areas.

The industry may never fulfill the rosiest projections of producing many thousands of jobs in
the state, but its impact already is significant.

The new reporting policy is an important step in the right direction, though it won’t make
everyone happy. Oil and gas companies still are permitted to keep from disclosing some chemical
ingredients by classifying them as “trade secrets.” But it does put in place greater disclosure
requirements, which should help ease concerns some may have about the safety of the fracking
process.

Chemicals used in fracking include ethylene glycol, formaldehyde and naphthalene, all of which
pose potential health dangers. Proper disposal of fracking waste remains a hot topic of discussion
and study separately, though it should be possible for the oil and gas industry, as many other
industries do, to safely use and dispose of potentially hazardous chemicals. And natural gas is far
less damaging to health and the environment than coal.

There has been disinformation from both sides of the fight between environmentalists and the oil
and gas industry, and no type of reasonable regulation is likely to satisfy those who ideologically
oppose fracking.

Many claims and studies purporting to show that fracking is inescapably dangerous, though, have
been discredited, said former Obama administration energy secretary Steven Chu in a recent
appearance in Columbus.

He said fracking can be clean and safe.

On the other hand, the industry’s claim that being subject to the federal disclosure rules will
actually put firefighters at a disadvantage also seems agenda-driven. Tom Stewart, vice president
of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, told
The Dispatch that local fire departments now will have to sort through files submitted to
them individually rather than getting information online via the Ohio Department of Natural
Resources.

Developing Ohio’s rich energy resources can be a win-win for all, with cooperation and proper
oversight.